Our History

1950 - Bernice Bean and Verbal, her 17 year-old son, felt the call of God to pioneer a church on the east side of Houston. Beginning with home prayer meetings, they expanded to the Woodland Acres Elementary School in the Greens Bayou area of Houston.

1967 - When Bernice's health failed, Verbal and his wife, Anita, became pastors of the First Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ on Dewey Street.

1977 - Verbal Bean was instantly killed in a head-on collision with a drunk driver. Charles and Bonnie Free were installed as pastors.

1978 - The church moved from Dewey Street to its present location at 13334 Wallisville Road, and the name was changed to Christian Tabernacle.

1988-89 - Richard Heard, a crusade evangelist for 19 years, came on staff as co-pastor in 1988 and the following year became senior pastor. To survive, the small group of 70 members had continual fundraisers, such as peanut brittle, pies, tamales, take-out dinners, and newspaper inserts.

1990-91 - As God began to bless the struggling congregation, a day care was added, followed by the construction of a Family Life Center and a Christian School, pre-K through 5th grade. Beginning with a paid staff of two, Pastor Heard began to build a leadership team of gifted men and women, adding four more to the staff. A second Sunday morning service at 8:15 a.m. (later changed to 9:00 a.m.) was added to provide room for growth. Our total income for 1991 was $876,943.

1996 - On a Sunday morning in October, a most remarkable divine visitation forever changed our concept of "having church." As Bishop Heard read from the Book of 2 Chronicles, the power of God struck the pulpit, splitting it in two parts and knocking him to the floor. So dynamic was this manifestation, some saw angels and others experienced miraculous healings and unusual demonstrations of the Spirit. For almost three months, the unpredictable services focused on repentance and seeking God's face, rather than His gifts. This dramatic encounter not only revolutionized our pastor's ministry, but has left a perpetual anointing upon this congregation.

1996-2000 - As God's anointing upon C.T. began to attract a constant flow of visitors, our membership quickly grew to 2,000. Adjacent to our property, we purchased 12.47 acres, giving us 25.21 acres at our present site. Four more associate pastors were added to the staff. For the year 2000, the total income was $2.65 million with a membership of 2,900.

2001 - While our own congregation was exploding with growth, a consuming passion to reach the world for Christ motivated Bishop Heard to personally establish the East Africa School of Biblical Studies in Tanzania, East Africa. With graduates now numbering more than 1,650, these native pastors have been trained and equipped to evangelize their nation. Since then, Bible Schools have been established in several other countries that are training spiritual leaders to gather the coming harvest.

2002 - The church purchased 48.2 acres of prime property on Beltway 8 at Garrett Road. A modular building was erected on our present location to provide more classroom space, a Spanish congregation was organized to evangelize the ever-growing Hispanic population of our area with a Sunday afternoon service, and a Saturday night meeting was launched to support the Sunday morning overflow.

2003-2005 - Two new parking lots were added, making a total of five, along with extensive remodeling of staff offices and classroom space. Every foot of space is being utilized to contain the rapidly growing congregation. With a membership of 3,500, a Sunday morning 10 o'clock service was initiated in the Family Life Center to alleviate the crowded situation.

2006-2007 - Another 15.5 acre tract on Beltway 8 was purchased, giving us 63.7 acres with frontage from Garrett Road to C.E. King Parkway. To ease our crowded situation, another service was added to our busy Sunday morning schedule. We now conduct weekend services at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, four on Sunday morning (7:30, 9:00, 10:10, and 11:15 a.m.), and a 2:00 p.m. Spanish service. The in-house and local outreach ministries now number 70 with 650 volunteers. For the year 2007, our total income was $4.17 million, more than 4,000 members, and 17 staff pastors. From our daycare, school, staff, and church, we have a total of 79 paid employees.

2008 - On the third Saturday of each month, all C.T. members are invited to attend an Eastern Gate Tabernacle prayer gathering on our new church property. Preliminary building plans have been formulated for our new site, and we are now involved in a Capital Stewardship Campaign. As Bishop Heard has declared, "Today, we cross over to our promised land on Beltway 8 . . . It's our time!"

1990 to present - Sixteen churches in the Houston area and other parts of the nation have been founded or come under Christian Tabernacle's spiritual covering. Nor has Bishop Heard ever stopped growing, earning two doctorates and publishing two books. Traveling extensively in missionary evangelism, he has an unquenchable passion to train front line leaders. An "apostolic spirit of fatherhood" has drawn several thousand churches and leaders nationally and internationally to look to Bishop Heard for mentoring and leadership.